Category: Uncategorized

Morning Intelligence – The Gist Amsterdam’s voters have yanked the wheel: preliminary results show liberal-progressive D66 vaulting from 9 to 27 seats, edging Geert Wilders’ PVV (25) and slicing the far-right’s 2023 surge nearly in half. Turnout was a sturdy 78 percent, yet no party tops 18 percent of the vote—meaning at least four factions…

Evening Analysis – The Gist Hurricane Melissa’s 185 mph landfall in Jamaica—the island’s fiercest storm since records began in 1851—has left 530,000 homes dark, four hospitals crippled and entire parishes “underwater.” A day later, 735,000 Cubans were ordered inland as the cyclone, still a Category 3, raked Santiago de Cuba. Rapid intensification—Melissa doubled its wind…

Morning Intelligence – The Gist The Federal Reserve will almost certainly cut its policy rate to 3.75-4.00 % this afternoon, navigating “in a fog” after a 29-day data-starving shutdown and signs of liquidity strain that have pushed banks back to crisis-era funding windows.(reuters.com) Futures now price a December follow-up cut at 90 % and expect…

Evening Analysis – The Gist Israel’s two-week-old Gaza ceasefire is fracturing. Overnight, Hamas returned body fragments that Israeli forensics say belong to Ofir Tzarfati—already buried in 2023—rather than any of the 13 missing hostages. Prime Minister Netanyahu called this a “clear violation” and convened defence chiefs; far-right ministers demand a full resumption of war. Gaza’s…

Morning Intelligence – The Gist A day before Dutch voters confront the country’s ninth general election this century, Geert Wilders’ far-right PVV again tops the polls while 26 other parties jostle for 149 remaining seats. Immigration dominates: Wilders pledges a total asylum freeze; even centrists echo his rhetoric. The ballot paper now lists 1,166 candidates—an…

Evening Analysis – The Gist Washington and Beijing have edged back from the tariff cliff. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the two sides have a “substantial framework” that would shelve plans for 100% U.S. duties and pause China’s rare-earth export curbs. Brent crude firmed above $66 and the S&P 500 touched another record as risk…

Morning Intelligence – The Gist Washington and Beijing have sketched a “substantial proposal” in Kuala Lumpur, pausing 100 % U.S. tariffs and delaying China’s rare-earth export curbs for a year. Brent crude jumped 0.7 % on the news, and soybean futures rallied 3 %, proof that even a framework—not a treaty—can reprice global risk. (reuters.com)…

Evening Analysis – The Gist China and the United States emerged from Kuala Lumpur trade talks proclaiming a “preliminary consensus” on tariffs, fentanyl controls and export curbs. Beijing’s Li Chenggang confirmed progress, while Washington signaled that Presidents Xi and Trump will try to seal a pact in Seoul on 30 October. The stakes are tangible:…

Morning Intelligence – The Gist Russian missile-and-drone swarms ripped into Kyiv before dawn, killing four and wounding at least twenty across the capital and Dnipropetrovsk. Ukraine’s air-force says it downed 4 of 9 missiles and 50 of 62 Shahed drones—a 77 % intercept rate that nonetheless left a kindergarten ablaze and power facilities scarred. (reuters.com)…

Evening Analysis – The Gist Washington and Beijing just spent eight hours in a Kuala Lumpur skyscraper trying to stop the tariff spiral from snapping the $710 billion trade artery that still binds them. Treasury chief Scott Bessent called the talks “very constructive,” but the clock ticks: Trump’s threatened 100 % duties hit Nov 1,…